To the Egadi Islands hundreds of sea eagles swim undisturbed. The scientists of the project Life Elife – for about three years – they have been studying them in every way. For example, they are studying their diet, genetics, reproduction, behavior and how much thepollution bother them. Life Elife is an international project, co-financed by the European Commission. It started in 2019 and aims to protect the elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) living in the Mediterranean, through research and collaborating with fishermen to implement sustainable practices. Partners include theGenoa Aquarium.
“This archipelago is a clear place of aggregation – he says Massimiliano Bottaro, coordinator of the Life Elife project and researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn -. But the reasons why there are so many eagles are not so clear. We observe several females and some cubs, so we could assume that they come here for reproduce or to feed oneself”. For this incredible cartilaginous fish, a close relative of rays and manta rays, there is no shortage of mysteries. “We know very little about their biology. What does it eat? Where does it move? Where does it reproduce? These are all questions whose answers are yet to be determined,” adds Bottaro to Ilfattoquotidiano.it.
For this reason, scientists have decided to call upon the divers of every area of Italy. “We decided to launch a campaign to monitor sightings involving a hundred diving centers to search for sea eagles throughout the peninsula. Only in this way will we be able to try to make comparisons with what we observe in the Egadi Islands,” he continues.
It will last at least eighteen months and the aim is to collect as much data as possible. “It is an initiative in collaboration with Triton ETSa marine conservation organization. Divers will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire via Google Form or in traditional format, then sending it to the email address euelifeproject@gmail.com”. In the coming months, Life Elife scientists also plan to mark some sea eagles with instruments so they can be followed via satellite. For this species, it would seem to be the first time ever: “A minimally invasive system has recently been developed that allows you to mark even small, flattened fish like sea eagles,” Bottaro explains.
Sea eagles according to theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) are species considered threatened like most elasmobranchs, this is why the Life Elife project aims to collaborate with fishermen. “When we initially proposed to them to replace the classic I love J-shaped, which are easily swallowed and get caught in the esophagus rather than the mouth, with the more eco-friendly circular hooks, which are wider and difficult to swallow, the fishermen were distrustful. They feared negative repercussions on fishing yields. Instead, they were able to change their minds and that is how we can say that about the 90% of sharks and some rays that accidentally take the circular hook have been saved,” Bottaro says proudly.
If success is sung with hooks, it is a different story for nets. Only in the Egadi Islands do they remain entangled about 200 sea eagles and half of these do not survive. “Unfortunately, completely avoiding accidental captures is practically impossible – explains Ilfattoquotidiano.itMartina ArpaiaPhD student at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn -. But for us it is already a positive factor that the animals still alive are freed, adopting the good practices of the project. It is not a given, it means that we have managed to raise awareness among the fishermen. They are showing us trust and are proving to be the most valuable and collaborative actors in the conservation of sharks and rays”.
There are some other signs of hope. “We are experimenting, with good results, the so-called exclusion grids that position themselves in front of the nets during trawling so as to prevent sharks from ending up in the bag – concludes Bottaro -. There is still a long way to go. But when it happens, like last winter, that a fisherman from Lampedusa calls you to tell you that he compromised part of his fishing gear to free a white shark, well, you understand that we are on the right track”.
